The 3 degree night - a TR

“My brother, stratusloop and I met up at Caledonia State Park Saturday morning, then drove to the end of Quarry Gap Rd. to hike our packs in to the shelter. Unfortunately loop's car didn't make it up the last hill (there was an inch of snow on the ground and this is a one-lane mountain road) so we all backed down 1/4 mile to stash his car near a pumping station. When we finally made it to the end of the road we realized that we had almost made it before. An hour later we had our packs stashed at Quarry Gap Shelter(s) and were on our way north to a parking area on Ridge Rd. Oh, and we hiked in two "fire logs" and some wood in case there was nothing available at the shelter. Another AT shelter I've been to twice is always picked clean, so we wanted to be safe rather than sorry.

Day packs on, we hiked south 6 miles on the AT. The wind and occasional clouds over the sun required constant adjustment - gloves off, gloves on, unbutton the outer layer, button it back up. For a good portion of the trail we were the only footprints left in the snow, although we did pass a PATC cabin which had a large group, and at one point we passed 2 backpackers going the other direction.

In to camp around 4:30, enough time to get some firewood so we could enjoy the night instead of huddling in our bags. I found that the main compartment on my day pack had opened up shortly before I made it into camp (it felt different on my back starting a half-mile before camp but I didn't know why at the time) but I didn't think I had put anything in there so no worries. A good amount of deadfall stacked up by 6, we were ready to make dinner. Lit the fire, chatted and called home for "goodnights", and sipped on some Kahlua...its damn good in hot chocolate, too (good idea loop). In the mid-20's around 10 pm when the wood was used up, and off to bed. Nice and toasty inside the bag, with hand warmers placed right on the arteries that run behind the ankles, stuffed between the double layer of socks I had on each foot.

The hand warmers crapped out around 4 or 5, I don't know the exact time because I left my watch outside so I could read the temperature the night before. I broke open two new handwarmers but couldn't reach down to put them inside my double-layer socks, so I compromised and put them in my shirt pockets. Some restless sleep after that and by 6:45 I was awake and shivering even with the handwarmers. I had silk longjohns, mid-weight merino wool longjohns, fleece sweatpants and shirt, a balaclava on my head, and I was in a 0F bag, and I was shivering! I am a cold sleeper. As I lay there I realized my wide-brimmed hat was in that daypack compartment and probably had spent the night laying on the trail. Crap. I've had it for years and I take it everywhere so just leaving it was not an option. Plus I didn't want to spend $25 to buy a new one.

So by 7 between my full bladder, shivering, the rising sun and thoughts of my old trusty hat on the trail somewhere, I finally got up. We weren't supposed to get up until 8 but I was too cold to stay in the bag anymore.

A look at the temperature on my watch told me why. At first glance I thought it said 34 degrees, but I knew there was no way that could be right. Wait, I see a decimal point between the numbers. Its 3.4 degrees! No wonder I was cold.

A brisk hike back up the trail to warm up and I (VERY happily) found my old trusty hat laying on the trail a half-mile back. Took some self-portraits since I brought my camera with me, and then back to the shelter by 7:45. Everyone was awake, and we agreed we would ditch breakfast and just pack up and go. 10 minutes down the trail and we were back at the cars, ready to say goodbye to stratusloop. Joe headed down the road and we went to retrieve my car.

A short trip, but one that connected two sections of the AT we had hiked over the last 2 years. For me that connects everything from near the southern border of MD (near Harpers Ferry), to Pine Grove State park in PA. I've done portions farther north/east in PA, and parts in Shenandoah, I'll eventually link them all up.

And a new low on the thermometer for me. I've been out down to the teens a few times, but that was warm compared to this trip. I was happy to get back to my wood stove at home, with my feet propped up in front of the flames.”

“That's cold, Tech!

One of these days I will finish the MD AT.”

“What sleeping bag did you use?”

“The Kilo Plus from REI. I had the Sub Kilo (their 20F bag) for 2 years, never took it below the low 30's and was always cold in it, so I took it back under their unconditional return policy and swapped it for the 0F bag. This trip is the first one where I've been cold in the bag. Since bag ratings are there to indicate how low they will keep you alive (not comfortable), I'm satisfied. Ten degrees warmer and I would have been comfortable.”

“...Since bag ratings are there to indicate how low they will keep you alive (not comfortable), ...


LOL, that's REI bag ratings for sure.
My experence with my so called 20 degree REI SubKilo was about like your's. I was cold at 32 degrees. Subtract about 15 degrees or so from REI's ratings.”

“And still wear several layers...”

“Last weekend i came up with the perfect system for staying warm. I call it the 1/5th system. It entails 1 cord of wood and 5th of whiskey. LOL!”

“That system worked well for us for the first half of the night, except we were using Kahlua instead of whiskey. Only problem is the wood won't fit inside the bag for the second half of the night.




Oh gee, that one sounds ripe for the out of context thread...”

“That sounds pretty cold. Sorry I had to jump ship on this one -- guess there's always next time...”

“great trip report... I like that section of trail. Perhaps the nicest in PA.”

“I took a 3 hour dayhike sun. morn. when it was 1 degree here, but to spend the night in that temp. is not easy.Manufactureres bag temps always have to be taken with a grain of salt, there is no established standard that they all follow.”

“Sounds like fun TNT, you should try a hot water Nalgene in the bag next time, see if that helps.”

“Wow, now that is cold. 7 degrees is the lowest I ever stayed in a shelter for. my 15 degree bag did not help that morning. Two reasons why you may have been cold is the liquor, not the best drink on cold nights and not enough fuel to warm you body. just a thought.
last edited: 2/05/07 7:47:13 PM”

“ENS - I remarked at one point how pretty it was, good variety of vegetation. Also helps that its so flat so you can pay attention to the scenery and not where your feet are going.

BS - I tried the hot water in Nalgene trick once, and it worked great until 3 or 4 am when it cooled off. Then it turned from heat source to heat sink and sucked the heat from my feet. I found on one of my trips soon after that the hand warmer below the ankle worked best for me if its below 20.

yotaman - well, we didn't drink much. Maybe 8 or 9 ounces shared between two of us and most of it was in hot chocolate. As for long-term fuel, we ate quite a bit of tuna sushi (thanks Stephen!) and that fish oil is good for long-term. Also had a bunch of sugar between the hot chocolate and Kahlua which is good for the short-term energy. I put the blame on using a bag at its limits.


By the way, I confirmed the accuracy of my watch's thermometer. Left it outside last night and this morning it read 2.6 when my home's thermometer read 2.8, and I know that one is accurate. I just wish I had left the watch in "record" mode. By the time I read it the sun was up and the temps were going up pretty fast. I'm betting we were really down somewhere between 0 and 1.”

“Yo Douglas.....nice trip report....but ya forgot to mention the sushi dude....had I known, I would've packed the wasabi!

Yes indeedy it was a bit brisk to say the least. My 3-part sleeping system worked well but like you my feet warmers took a dump at about 4am and had to reload. I'm a very cold sleeper.....brrrrr....

The Quarry Gap shelter has to be one the coolest shelters on the AT.....had it been a wee bit warmer, it would've been rather quaint to partake in a manly game of Chess.

And I forgot to write a log entry in the register....dang man....

One of the coolest phenomenons that occured with me this past weekend that I realized and mostly took for granted was all of the animal tracks that were weaving back and forth and running along the trail. It was so cool to decode what I was seeing and a few I wasn't sure of. I'd swear that one set of tracks were fox and possibly bobcat but they were the coolest ones I saw. They were very distinct "paw" prints reminscent of a cat. The unique characteristic about these tracks were, they ran parallel to the trail and mostly with the trail. After awhile, I began to put 2 and 2 together. My brain works slowly these days. Note to self; play more Brain Age DS. Whatever these tracks were, fox or bobcat, my interpretation was; they were stalking their prey by pursuing the other tracks running with the trail. Or perhaps it was all coincidental. Never-the-less, it was very surreal to me. I closed my eyes briefly and imagined a fox or bobcat hunched over and tackfully hunting down its next meal. My most vivid vision, even as I sit here writing this, were the vibrant colours; the smooth unique red fur of a fox against the pure white snow which sparkled brilliantly against the backdrop of a clear blue sky. A sort of personal vision quest if you will. I could clearly visualize the individual hairs standing on end down the back of this animal and sense its anticipation and anxiety of catching its victim. A cosmic moment...anywho....a little behind the scenes in the dreamlike world of the loopman.......

Until next time.....peace out....
last edited: 2/06/07 9:46:25 AM”

“FYI a bobcat print is pretty round and will not show claws, a fox print is pretty small and you should be able to see the claws.”

“LT....I saw no claw markings in the print...but which ever it was, the experience energized me with a spiritual power that engulfed my soul....”

“I saw Bobcat tracks in Baxter one time definately cool!”

“All those tracks in the snow were very cool. Especially that scene of a struggle, or what we thought was one.”